Plans for North County building being finalized

April 18, 2001|By RUDY YNIGUEZ, Staff Writer

The county Board of Supervisors was told final plans and specifications are being developed for the conversion of the former Bank of America building in Brawley into a Northend county administration center.

Randy Rister, county director of property services, said the various needs for space in the building are being reviewed, that the city of Brawley is inspecting the building to ensure it meets fire code requirement and that the state is reviewing the facility for prisoner security.

Calexico-area architect Kent Hems said the floor plans should be finalized in two to four weeks, followed by seeking bids for the work in three to six months and a six-month construction process.

On the issue of redrawing supervisorial lines due to the 2000 census, community members selected by each supervisor to participate in the decennial process were announced. They are:

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l District 1, Tony Tirado: Chavela Aguilar and Daniel Santillan, both of Calexico.

l District 5, Wally Leimgruber: Kelly Keithly and Pedro Cerda, both of Holtville.

The group will join with six county staff members to carry out the process and present recommendations to the board for adoption. Tirado suggested the board discuss the possibility of providing the community members with a stipend for their efforts.

In other business, the board:

l approved a $500,000 federal grant request to the North American Development Bank's community adjustment and trade investment program to be used as a revolving loan fund to replace jobs lost and at risk due to economic impacts from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

l approved a $100,000 federal grant request for a one-year study to evaluate the feasibility of using locally grown sugar cane and sugar beets to establish a sugar-to-ethanol processing facility in the Imperial Valley.

l approved an $83,710 agreement with the state Department of Water Resources for the replacement of the water treatment plant at the Wiest Lake campground.

The discussion on potential changes in how the board conducts its business, as well as that of county departments was postponed due to two supervisors being absent from the meeting.